Tuesday 26 June 1666
Up and to my office betimes, and there all the morning, very busy to get out the fleete, the Dutch being now for certain out, and we shall not, we thinke, be much behindhand with them. At noon to the ’Change about business, and so home to dinner, and after dinner to the setting my Journall to rights, and so to the office again, where all the afternoon full of business, and there till night, that my eyes were sore, that I could not write no longer.
Then into the garden, then my wife and Mercer and my Lady Pen and her daughter with us, and here we sung in the darke very finely half an houre, and so home to supper and to bed. This afternoon, after a long drowth, we had a good shower of rain, but it will not signify much if no more come.
This day in the morning come Mr. Chichly to Sir W. Coventry, to tell him the ill successe of the guns made for the Loyall London; which is, that in the trial every one of the great guns, the whole cannon of seven (as I take it), broke in pieces, which is a strange mishap, and that which will give more occasion to people’s discourse of the King’s business being done ill.
This night Mary my cookemayde, that hath been with us about three months, but find herself not able to do my worke, so is gone with great kindnesse away, and another (Luce) come, very ugly and plaine, but may be a good servant for all that.
16 Annotations
First Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
"very busy to get out the fleete, the Dutch being now for certain out, and we shall not, we thinke, be much behindhand with them"
be·hind·hand
Function: adjective
Date: 1535
1: being in arrears
2 a: being in an inferior position
b: being behind schedule
http://mw1.m-w.com/dictionary/beh…
Methinks 2b is intended by Pepys here.
Robert Gertz • Link
"... Mary my cookemayde, that hath with us about three months, but find herself not able to do my worke, so is gone with great kindnesse away..."
Hopefully she found it as great kindness...
"What?! I got permanently disabled workin' for him and when he threw me out he charged me three months' rent."
***
"...my wife and Mercer and my Lady Pen and her daughter with us, and here we sung in the darke very finely half an houre..."
"Ahhhh!!! Wait...Sam'l, was that you? Why you little romantic thing...Just wait till we're alone though." Bess hisses.
"Ah, heh, heh...Yes."
"I said I was over here..." Mercer hisses...
"What?" Bess, mistakenly addressed again, blinks.
cgs • Link
drowth: double 'u' instead of one ewe.
Terry Foreman • Link
A drowth or drouuth makes for good kindling.
"Thoughts of a dry brain in a dry season." -- T.S. Eliot *Gerontion* http://www.americanpoems.com/poet…
Mary • Link
Mary .... that hath been with us about 3 months.
L&M point out that she had only been with them since 10th May. It just seemed a lot longer!
ONeville • Link
Luce - Lucy? Perhaps it's a good thing she's plain. Sam never seems to know when his hand are full.
ONeville • Link
Hand? Hands, of course.
Wim van der Meij • Link
Luce may yet be the light in Sam's eyes :)
JWB • Link
From Mel Fisher:
"Cast Guns – Gunfounding in Bronze or Iron "
http://www.melfisher.org/cannonsu…
Bradford • Link
"very ugly and plaine, but may be a good servant for all that."
Just imagine---you can't judge a person's abilities from their God-given looks.
"we sung in the darke very finely half an houre, and so home to supper and to bed."
Congruent with the best modern advice about relaxing mind and body with a view to getting proper rest---though some folks put on the pounds/kilos with bedtime suppers.
A. Hamilton • Link
"the Dutch being now for certain out, and we shall not, we thinke, be much behindhand with them"
Spoiler: Sam's feverish activity in readying the fleet for renewed deployment pays off when Rupert, Monck, Spragge et al escape the Dutch blockade of the Thames just four weeks hence and win one for Charlie.
Robert Gertz • Link
Nice anyway that Sam and Coventry have enough spirit to rally for another fight so soon. And kudos to Albemarle and Rupert and co...Whatever their faults they will fight on.
JWB • Link
"...which is a strange mishap,"
Brings to mind USS Princeton, on which a New York knock-off of English design exploded with Pres. Tyler aboard.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_…
Second Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
"This day in the morning come Mr. Chichly to Sir W. Coventry, to tell him the ill successe of he guns made for the Loyall London; which is, that in the trial every one of the great guns, the whole cannon of seven (as I take it), broke in pieces"
L&M: The newly-built Loyal London did not reach the fleet at the Nore until 13 July, and then without guns. Thomas Chichely was a Commissioner of the Ordinance.
Tonyel • Link
The newly-built Loyal London did not reach the fleet at the Nore until 13 July, and then without guns.
Yet another "plus ca change" example. The UK today has a new, enormously expensive, aircraft carrier but we can't afford the planes for it. And this was planned - not the result of an accident!
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Then into the garden, then my wife and Mercer and my Lady Pen and her daughter with us, and here we sung in the darke very finely half an houre, and so home to supper and to bed."
Sam entertains his ladies again ... he has no close men friends.